Noivian's Logs
by Sophia Angelia
Summary: So as to not loose my mind on my journey, I have documented and uploaded my daily life for others to read, if they so wish.
1. Field Notes

Log Date: Day 2

Location: Euclid Galaxy, planet Mazunokaz Agtdo, of the Hiomiyamat-Yeto VIII system.

* * *

Left the space station, landed on a planet covered in blue grass. In search of flora, I was disappointed to spot none of the resources I needed, nor a large amount of plant-based resources in the slightest. Except Carbon. But Carbon's everywhere.

While exploring, I encountered a small creature no bigger than my torso trotting about the field. It had four nimble, small hooves, a stripped pattern on its legs and a rocky pattern on its shoulder. Its snout looked to be about half its face and was blocky in nature, with triangular ears, two pointy horns before the ears, and deep brown eyes that seemed to blend into its tan-brown complexion. It had a stump tail and raised hindquarters, and further observation proved that it was a grazing creature. When I attempted to approach the creature, it brayed at me in the most unusual manner, turning tail and fleeing. I scanned it as it fled, the name Eldaganera Balikin displaying for me to read.

After the observance, I continued on my path for resources. The fields of blue and tan rolled for what seemed like ever, cresting hills dotted with trees of green and purple. Until I stumbled upon a canyon, quite literally. The canyon itself was full of resources, albeit none that I needed, rather ones I knew others needed, like Iridium and Gold. I had been fooled by the landscape before; rising prismatic structures had prompted me into mining them for Heridium and loosing a fourth of the power in my Launch Thruster.

To my dismay, however, the canyon had been infested with a carnivore of... interesting proportions. It was small, no bigger than my foot, resembled a cephalopod of sorts, with too many legs to count at the rapid pace they were moving. It had a set of lime green claws and a curved leaf-like body, with two beady stalk eyes. But the pinches it delivered had such a crushing effect, and the sharpness of their claws pierced through my Exosuit like it was butter. It would have been okay if the creature were larger, but they were so small and there were so many of them... I was forced a hasty retreat to my ship, barely escaping with my life. Despite the potentially valuable minerals present on this planet, I'm afraid I will have to leave it behind. The fauna here are simply too aggressive.


	2. Daily Log

Log Date: Day 3

Location: Euclid Galaxy, Onzonevrad Expanse, Gotomendorn System, planet Goto-Primum

* * *

The space station here is owned by the Korvax. I was not given a name, or perhaps didn't search hard enough for one, so I will call it Station Alpha. I name it so because it is the first Space Station I have been to in a long while. Unfamiliar with the art of trade and stock, I don't spend much time here before moving on to the planets.

While I sit on my ship, however, mulling over thoughts of trade and planets, I come across a problem I had let slide for a while now. The names of these systems and planets are really hard to pronounce. Perhaps I should create a system for categorizing them in such a manner that they would be easier to distinguish? An easy idea is to name the system something that's part of a series, like numbers or letters, and then give the planets a secondary name, whilst keeping the first part of the planet's.

Let's take Greek letters and Latin numbers for example. Say I named a star system "Alpha". The first planet I would find in that star system would henceforth be called "Alpha-Primum", the second would be "Alpha-Secundo", and so on and so forth. The only foreseeable problem I will have with this method is when I run out of letters. Languages only have so many sounds to them... I suppose I could use the first one or two syllables in the given star system name and then use the naming system I made for the planets.

In the star system I'm in right now, for example, the first planet I visit will be called "Goto-Primum", and the second would be "Goto-Secundo". But alas, my knowledge of Latin is limited... Fortunately, the numbers reset when I move to a new star system, unlike the names of the star systems. This way, I won't run out of names for the star systems, nor will I constantly be confused by the names of the planets. Again, the downside is that some star system names are very hard to pronounce. Perhaps if I just did the Greek letters, but added Roman Numerals if I run out...? That way, once I reach the end of the alphabet, I'll simply start over with "Alpha II", and the planets would start at "Alpha II-Primum". It's still a mouthful, but not so much as "Sumasennumag" (which, in the star system's defense, wouldn't be so hard to pronounce if I knew where to put the emphasis.)

It's settled, then. On the next star system, I will start my naming system. For this star system, I'll go with "Goto-Primum" and the like for the planets. For now, I will leave this station and make my way to the first planet to gather resources.

I arrive on the swiftly-named "Goto-Primum". It's abundant in plant-based resources, but rather lacking in grass. The grass is a pale lime green in color and sparse on the landscape. The fauna, however, aren't quite so welcoming, and I hastily retreat to a nearby outpost. The outpost is manned by a single Korvax Code Entity named Tusvetl. I make a note to name the outpost "Tusvetl Outpost". He's obviously overcharged with electricity, bolts jumping from place to place along his body. Despite my hesitation, I shake his hand and ground him, refraining from screeching in pain as I feel the electricity coursing through me. Looking back on this experience, it feels rather lewd to speak of this encounter, and speak of it in such a manner as "he discharged onto me". It is frustrating that this is the only way I can think of explaining the happenings at this moment. But none the less, he grants me a piece of technology for my efforts.

Renewed with vigor and a sheer need to leave the alien's presence, I step outside the base to gather resources for the new tech as night falls over the land. And so they return. The cephalopod-like aliens I so despised from the last planet. These variants are bigger in size, perhaps the size of my head, but prove they can be just as much as a nuisance. These, however, are lesser-legged, bearing only four tiny possess the same shelled body, but rather than a vibrant green and blue, they bear a bright orange and red, with striking resemblance to the dull, rust colored dirt they scurry upon. They seem to be less of the aggressive type, preferring to stalk upon their prey. Said prey, I noted could include plants, given the way their front claws bent and shifted like small green worm jutting out from beneath their four stalk eyes. I learn that its name is Glastonia Nucargioni. It's quite the mouthful, as per all predetermined names within these star systems... I make a vow to figure a naming system that makes sense for fauna tomorrow.

Lacking the Plutonium I needed to leave the planet, I take to my ship for the night, preferring not to spend more time around Tusvetl than I needed, despite the Code Entity's seeming passiveness towards the situation that made me so awkward around him. Perhaps I am overthinking things again? Solitude forces one to read more into social interactions than one might expect. These thoughts linger in my mind as I drift into sleep.


	3. Daily Journal

Log Date: Day 5

Location: Euclid Galaxy, Onzonevrad Expanse Region, Star System Alpha, planet Alpha-Primum

* * *

My first stop is now the Space Station. When I walk into its interior, I'm disappointed to find a completely vacant bar. Who, then, runs this star system? I search the bar, but come up blank for a flag. Not that I'd really recognize the flags, anyways. I only know the Korvax have green on theirs. What do the other two flags look like? I've not the slightest idea. I upgraded my gear too fast in the previous system: my bag can barely hold what I need just to get from place to place. I've started selling and ejecting what I don't need, regardless of how valuable they may be. The next system over is a system containing an anomaly. I'm eager to get there, almost too eager to skip over the planets in this newly discovered star system. Almost. I do manage to restrain myself, scouting about the planets that happen to be in star system Alpha, but there seems to be a rather dull tone to my actions. What awaits me in the next system over has me too riled up to concentrate correctly on the task at hand of collecting data and supplies.

The first planet, Alpha-Primum, immediately yields to me a monolith. Oh, how I do treasure knowledge above all else. It elates my mood for a while during the trek from my ship to the platform and the short meditation that comes after making contact with the monolith. The air is filled with acidic dust and the land is colored an odd yellow-lime green, reminding me briefly of my run in with the land crabs on the blue planet, both of their names momentarily escaping me. After I interact with the monolith and the surrounding knowledge stones, I take my leave from the planet, its surface holding no more of my interest.


	4. Atlas

Log Date: Day 7

Location: Euclid Galaxy, Onzonevrad Expanse Region, Star System Beta.

* * *

It sees me. It sees through me. It is me, but it's not. And it doesn't, and I know it can't possibly see because it has no eyes. But it's so unique, not a sphere, but some shape with too many sides to count, small triangles like glass over the surface of it. The molten red color beneath its surface is both calming and enthralling at the same time. It fills me with a desire that was not unlike what I had experienced before. A desire to seek, a desire to learn, a desire to understand. And yet a basic part of me tells me to run. To turn tail and flee. This is beyond my current comprehension, I know, and my body rejects it. It leans towards self preservation above all else, above my own wants and desires. I stay rooted to the spot out of sheer will power. The pyramid opens and releases a small white orb. It speaks to me in a language I have never heard before, not even from the other species. I can only assume this is its own language, something it made on its own accord. The primal yet elegant tongue washes through my ears and shakes me to my very core. It almost sounds like a song...

Can this be real? How can something so simple, so delicate, be so powerful and... dare I say, omniscient? How can it know me so thoroughly? More importantly, how can I tell it knows me? Am I a part of it? Is it a part of me? My questions go unanswered, the air stilling save for the hum of the interface station and the messy sounds of the red shape shifting and constantly remolding its surface. The song picks up again, the message on loop. It's like a lullaby, I decide. A lullaby for the cosmos. A wish for peace. I nearly cry. So innocent, yet so vast and all-knowing. How? The mystery would only unravel for me if I follow this path. I was to give up my freedom to follow the path of knowledge. Why does this sound oddly familiar...? I have no choice but to accept this path that was laid out for me. After all, if I truly cherish knowledge, then I certainly wasn't about to turn down an opportunity like this. With a small turn, I head back to my ship, knees weak and limbs made of lead.

What had I done?


	5. Solba

Log Date: Day 10

Location: Euclid Galaxy, Dejangput Void region, Star System Epsilon, planet Epsilon-Tertium

* * *

Today has been interesting. Upon arriving at the space station, I encountered another of my kind, a Traveler I soon knew as Solba. After a brief conversation, I've decided to let Solba join me on my journey, given their predicament... A Gek trader had swindled them out of their ship, leaving them stranded at the space station. Given that I have a second seat in my space ship, I have decided to take Solba along with me for my journey, along with making stops so as to fulfill Solba's journey as well. After all, many of the documents on the monoliths I've been discovering have been telling that a Traveler's journey is not to be interrupted. Who am I to interrupt a fellow Traveler's journey? No, instead I will help my new friend to get where they are going

We took to a new planet, its surface covered in waves of green and brown. The trees were conical shaped, with purple bark and green leaves. Trees of soft, droopy nature held a lime-peach coloration. Solba took to my Analysis Visor, scanning and cataloging everything they saw. They seemed to enjoy the feeding the life forms of the planet bits and pieces of carbon they pulled from the plants. It wasn't long until they had made friends with many of the local inhabitants. I watched, slightly put off with their optimism and eagerness, but in a sense it was refreshing from my own analytical and introspective view of the world around me. In a sense, it was a much needed breath of fresh air.

We continued like this for a while, with myself fending off the predators with my Bolt Caster while they gather rare minerals with the native fauna. It's astounding how oblivious they are, and how unaware of the basic concepts of travel they've become. How long have they been at that space station? A year? Two? I let them frolic about, pondering over the idea of what their backstory could possibly be. There's something endearing about the way they wander around, asking me abut things. It's almost like a curious child asking one's parent for the wisdom of the universe. The only problem with this is that we are both just children in comparison to the rest of the universe...

We spent quite a few days meandering on the planet. Days, it seems, pass very fast, as I didn't feel tired until we made it back to the starship, bags full of things we had found and made on the planet and minds swirling with new knowledge. In the end, I realized I never even bothered asking anything of my companion past their name. I'll make a point of asking when we make it back to the space station.


	6. Vortex

Log Date: Day 11

Location: Euclid Galaxy, Dejangput Void region, Star System Zeta, planet Zeta-Primum's moon Dogkind

* * *

My second day with Solba. It quickly came to my attention, whilst we were preparing for the night prior, that Solba is in fact female. It is imply mind blowing that I would find another of of my species, let alone a member of the opposite gender. I can't help a certain rush of... excitement now when I'm around her. Perhaps it's that strange attraction I had mentioned previous. Or perhaps it's instinct calling me to perform as I was biologically intended to as per the survival of our dwindling species. Regardless, it has seemed that overnight I've gained a new protective quality over her. This morning, when I had been preparing for the day's exploration, Solba had approached me and asked to fly the ship. I was apprehensive at first, but I can't seem to resist her pleads. It's actually a newfound weakness of mine, her voice. In a universe where I hardly know how to communicate with the traders and warriors, it's refreshing to hear her light voice cascading around the language I'm most familiar with, the language I grew up with. I couldn't help but relinquish control of my space craft to her hands, whether they were capable or not.

Much to my relief, she took to the controls of the ship like a fish would to water. With some basic guidance on my end, the two of us took to the skies above. It wasn't long until we were rounding Zeta-Primum. On the far side of the planet, one I had admittedly not explored all that much. On the other side, it was revealed to the both of us that this planet had a moon. While contemplating how to name the moon, Solba insisted that we named the moon 'Dogkind'. I have no clue what possessed the girl to name a place such as this something so outlandish as that, or where she might have picked up such a word. What was a dog? What was its kind like? Did she know something I didn't?

Regardless, I wasn't left to revel in my own thoughts for long before Solba was landing the ship on this moon. I outwardly questioned her motives, earning me a stern look in response. So I was to be her tail as we we tread about this barren, lifeless planet, collecting oddly perfect trapezoids from the lavender and verdant colored caves that dotted such an odd moon. I would later be astonished to find that such so-called Vortex Cubes sold at high prices. Many trips were spent back and forth between trading stations and the caves where we collected cubes, my eyes always on her, watching our surroundings for any possible threats. She would often distract herself too much, prompting me to refill her life support when it ran low. What was wrong with me? Why did I care so much about someone I had only met the day prior? Was this was solitude did to one's psyche? Was I really this disenfranchised with alien company? Or were my hormones getting so out of if around her, simply because she was female? I had to run through my life support several times to make sure I was still functioning normally. Like the cubes, I could all but feel myself falling into a disarray of sorts, ever swirling, ever wisting and changing...

Her frame silhouetted against the gentle permanent twilight echoed in my mind long after we had left the moon far in the distance.


	7. Farewell

Log Date: Day 12

Location: Euclid Galaxy, Dejangput Void region, Star System Zeta, planets Zeta-Quarto and Zeta-Quintus

* * *

Three million each.

That's how much units we had raked in after multiple trips to the moon Dogkind. It quickly came to my conclusion that as long as I could return to this moon, I would never go hungry. I would never run out of resources. I could even buy a brand new spaceship with this kind of money!

Then I realized Solba could buy her own spaceship. Suddenly the money felt like molten lead in my account. I needed to get rid of it as fast as I physically could. But I knew that would do nothing to keep Solba with me. She would buy her own ship and carry on with her journey, as she was expected to. Much to my surprise, however, once we had received our units, she returned to my ship. At first, I expected her to make an offer for it, but once she dropped into the pilot's seat and motioned for me to join her, I was thoroughly confused. Did she want to forgo her journey in favor of mine? I couldn't imagine why, seeing as how we hadn't talked much about what we wanted from our journeys. Was she even aware that she was supposed to be heading somewhere? That thought struck me deep as we traveled together through the star system. Did she even know about her own species? What kind of precedent she had set out for her? Had this poor Traveler suffered some kind of memory loss? It made me feel entirely sad for her, and my need to explain only grew. But my fear of what she would do when she found out struck deeper. My own selfishness grew to new heights.

No, I can't keep this from her. It would not only be against ancient decrees from multiple species' histories, but now against my own moral code. It went against the very reason why I picked her up in the first place. I have to tell her. As we explored the rugged and desert-like landscape of Zeta-Quarto, an uneasy silence seemed to fall over us. Solba took to the Analysis Visor as usual, but there was a stunning lack of things around to scan. I spent my energy focusing on gathering materials I might need to craft upgrades. Given that I was about to buy a new ship, however, it was rather silly of me to do that. Rather, I should be making inventory space to transfer my items from the old ship to the new ship. Instead, I was pointing my mining beam at various succulents and the like, doing my best to ignore the elephant between us that only I seem to be aware of. It was only a matter of time before she found out, herself. Only a matter of time before she found a Monolith and discovered her destiny on her own. I figured instead of beating around the bush, she'd rather hear it from me.

Setting her down on a ridge by the star ship, I explained to her the possibility of purchasing her own star ship with the money she had received. She was visibly distraught; the thought had apparently not crossed her mind, or at least she did her best in making it seem like she hadn't thought about it. Can one become so involved in another, that they actually forget to think about themselves? Is that was love is? So self-destructive that one forgets they were ever just one, and instead becomes a piece? It seems like a scary emotion, one that an individual will die of if not careful. Furthermore, had I just hurt Solba by suggesting that she leave me? She calmed down the more I explained my reasoning, and reluctantly agreed that going our own paths was for the better. Her interest in exploration and documentation, while not exactly what I'm doing, parallel my interests in such a way that if either one of us were forced to do what the other wanted for a day, we ourselves would be bored. I take interest in travel, discoveries and acquiring the knowledge of Atlas and the sentient species, whereas Solba explained she was more concerned about the natural world, biomes and the species that lived in it. It was, as my mother would say, 'street smarts versus book smarts'. I have little knowledge of what that saying actually implies, but suppose this is what it would be talking about: the pursuit of two very different kinds of knowledge. The two of us pursued our own paths in such a way that would allow us to gaze upon each other, and will some day lead us in the same direction, but we were never to cross paths in the first place.

Reluctantly, we came to an agreement. Tomorrow Solba would purchase her own star ship and pursue her own path, remaining in this star system to document the wildlife before moving on in her own direction, whereas I would leave for the next Atlas Interface. The prospect of being alone again scares me, but in a sense it will also be refreshing. I will be left alone with my thoughts, allowing me to make more in-depth field reports. Perhaps I will take up studying the wildlife of the planets I pass, if only on the off-chance that one day Solba may find them too. But this galaxy is a vast one, and will not offer many more chances for us to meet again. It is likely that once I depart tomorrow, it will be good bye for good. There is a clenching in my gut, in my chest, as I write this. Coming to terms with loneliness is difficult, and with my conflicting emotions of Solba, it's no wonder I'm having a hard time. I can't help but wonder if this is what a broken heart feels like. It's vaguely familiar, and brings back sour memories of blue and red stars, a fading planet in the window...

I mustn't dwell on such thoughts. It hurts me physically in ways I do not think I can describe properly, or at least, do any justice to the feeling. Today should be a happy day filled with good memories of my time with Solba.

Hopefully I will not die of heartbreak come tomorrow.


End file.
